Stroke after pneumonia

Larissa Melville completed her traineeship in the editorial team of . After studying biology at Ludwig Maximilians University and the Technical University of Munich, she first got to know digital media online at Focus and then decided to learn medical journalism from scratch.

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MunichDiabetes, smoking and high blood pressure are harmful to the heart. Pneumonia is apparently just as dangerous for the cardiovascular system. And not just for a short time, but for years.

After an infection, especially of the respiratory tract, the risk of stroke and the like is particularly high - we have known that much for a long time. A team led by infection specialist Dr. Vicente Corrales-Medina from Ottawa Hospital has now for the first time examined in more detail how this risk develops over time after pneumonia. To do this, they evaluated the data from two studies with a total of over 20,000 participants.

Permanently increased risk

The risk of a serious cardiovascular incident was greatest in the first 30 days after a patient with pneumonia was hospitalized. Compared to the participants without pneumonia, the over 65 year olds suffered four times as often, and the 45 to 64 year olds at least 2.4 times as often a heart attack, a stroke or a coronary heart disease.

Over time, the danger to the heart and blood vessels decreased again, but it never went away. In contrast to the control group, the older participants developed cardiovascular disease almost twice as often ten years after the pneumonia. For the younger ones, the increased risk persisted for two years.

Prevention is the be-all and end-all

"This shows how important it is to prevent pneumonia in the population as much as possible - for example through vaccination and targeted hand hygiene," says study leader Corrales-Medina. This is particularly important for seniors and people with other risk factors for cardiovascular diseases - for example diabetics and smokers. In addition, doctors should keep an eye on the increased cardiovascular risk in patients with pneumonia years later. Preventive measures should be particularly recommended to them and their state of health should be checked regularly, adds the expert.

The researchers used two studies for their investigation: the Cardiovascular Health Study with almost 5,900 subjects over 65 and the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study, which contains data from around 15,800 people aged 45 to 64. A total of 591 of the older and 680 of the younger participants had to struggle with pneumonia. Of the elderly, 206 suffered a stroke, heart attack, or developed severe coronary artery disease in the ten years that followed. Of the younger ones, this fate struck 112.

Pneumonia is usually caused by bacteria, viruses or fungi. Patients show symptoms such as cough, fever, or shortness of breath. This disease is particularly dangerous for older, chronically ill or immunocompromised people - it can even lead to death for them.

Sources:

Ottawa Hospital press release from February 20th, 2015

Corrales-Medina Vicente F. et al .: Association Between Hospitalization for Pneumonia and Subsequent Risk of Cardiovascular Disease. The Journal of the American Medical Association. DOI: 10.1001 / jama.2014.18229

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